Middle Eastern inspired salad with tahini dressing

This week, I have been looking at some tips and tricks for keeping your Paleo salads and dressings vibrant and interesting (take a look at How to Make The Perfect Paleo Salad and Dressing). The recipe for this week is quite a busy salad, with a quick and easy tahini dressing, and it is perfect to go with barbecue meats and fish; think spiced lamb chops, succulent salmon or a big juicy steak.

As we have seen, almost anything goes when making salad, and you can use raw and cooked ingredients to suit. It can be tempting to throw everything at a salad, but a little restraint will result in a dish with far more finesse. This salad might be chock full of ingredients, but everything in there is harmonious; cucumber for instance would have no place here, however tempting it might be to put salad vegetables in every salad.

I roasted my own peppers, but feel free to use a Paleo friendly jar or some from a local deli. These were mini peppers and only took about 20 minutes to roast so it really was no trouble. I used a variety of coloured tomatoes to create my dish but don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on them. The usual red cherry tomatoes will work just fine. If you do want to try and get some farmers markets and local organic stores or greengrocers may be the best option.

The dressing is made in a jar; if you make it ahead of time the garlic has time to infuse. Throw in a sliced chilli too if you like a bit of heat. If you don’t have any empty jars then a small tupperware box is a good substitute. By putting the dressing into a container you get to give it a good shake and it will mix together much more effectively than by hand.

Just to note, I fry aubergines here in olive oil. If you have ever had cause to believe that you shouldn’t fry in olive oil then read my article on Choosing the Right Paleo Cooking Oil; you may be surprised.

Servings: 2

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 bag mixed salad leaf

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 aubergine, diced

1/2 punnet tri colour cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

50g roasted peppers, sliced

20 green olives

1 pomegranate, seeds only

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Flaked sea salt

For the dressing

2 tsp tahini

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lemon, juice only

1 clove garlic, smashed but whole

1 pinch sea salt

2 tbsp warm water

Preparation

1. Make the dressing by adding all the ingredients to a lidded jar and giving it a good shake.

2. Leave it aside for the flavours to develop; it will thicken too.

3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the aubergine.

4. Fry, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and soft in the centre.

5. Remove the aubergine from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

6. Toss all of the ingredients together and serve.

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